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| Jesus and Old Glory are not interchangeable |
This post has nothing to do with who you should, or should not, vote for. It has nothing to do with whether I like or don't like Mike Pence. It has everything to do with the nature and future of the American Church and its proper relationship to its government. Whether you are a liberal or a conservative, a socialist or a libertarian, this issue is the same: The Church and America are not one in the same. They are not equal partners, they are not co-recipients of the New Covenant. What we owe the Church, as Christians, is NOT the same as what we owe America, as citizens. As Christians, our duty must always first be to our faith, to our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ. If following that calling happens to coincide with our civic duty, we follow our faith, if following that calling conflicts with our civic duty, we follow our faith.
Mike Pence’s Heresy & the New Cult of Caesar - by Daniel Waugh
During his RNC speech, Vice President Mike Pence said the following,
My fellow Americans, we are going through a time of testing. But if you look through the fog of these challenging times, you will see, our flag is still there today. That star-spangled banner still waves over the land of the free and the home of the brave. From these hallowed grounds, American patriots in generations gone by did their part to defend freedom. Now, it is our turn.
So let’s run the race marked out for us. Let’s fix our eyes on Old Glory and all she represents. Let’s fix our eyes on this land of heroes and let their courage inspire. And let’s fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith and our freedom and never forget that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. That means freedom always wins.
The text of Hebrews 12:1-2 and 2 Corinthians 3:17 is below for comparison.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (New International Version) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (New International Version) 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
So, what's the big deal? Aren't biblical allusions and quotes a good thing? Shakespeare is full of them, nobody's calling out Shakespeare for idolatry. American politicians have long interwoven biblical references into their speeches, famously with Abraham Lincoln's A House Divided Against itself speech. Biblical literacy is definitely a good thing, and great speeches can certainly utilize biblical quotations and allusions, great literature can utilize Christ typology (think Tolkien's Frodo or Rawling's Harry Potter) without stepping anywhere near idolatry or blasphemy. What makes what Mike Pence said different?
Rather than allude to Hebrews 12:1-2, and say something like, "Just as Christians are commanded to fix their eyes upon Jesus, all Americans can look to our Constitution and Bill of Rights to find common ground", Pence replaced Jesus as the object that Americans must affix their eyes upon with Old Glory. One is a perfect example to aspire to (by God's grace), the other is not; it can't be. Instead of using Jesus as the greater example of devotion to encourage the lesser devotion to our nation, the two were made out to be in some way equal. As Christians, we are commanded to have Jesus (God) as the head and goal of our lives, as the standard for holiness and the sole recipient of worship. To put anything else in the place of God, the place of devotion and worship, of inspiration and guidance, is idolatry. Perhaps this is just sloppy speech writing, but the way in which Pastor Robert Jeffress rushed to defend it seems to indicate that the choice was deliberate. If Jesus and Old Glory are interchangeable, if our devotion to them are in the same realm, we are lost as a Church. {Mike Pence faces backlash for replacing 'Jesus' with 'Old Glory' flag reference during RNC speech - Christian News}
Exodus 20:3-4 New International Version 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
The Early Church was persecuted (sporadically but viciously) by the Roman Empire for (among other things) the refusal of Christians to say, "Caesar is Lord". They believed, rightly, that only God could lay claim to the title of Lord. That while they owed obedience to earthly authorities, they would only give worship to God, and God alone. While some recanted and make sacrifices to Caesar in the face of persecution, for those who refused, their loyalty was undivided, and they paid for it, often with their lives. {Christianity and the Roman Empire By Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe, BBC} From the reign of Constantine onward, Christianity moved from persecuted outside influence, to empire dominating force in the span of a few generations. It became increasing difficult to separate being a good Roman citizen from being a good Christian. This tension, between citizenship on earth and citizenship in heaven was a consistent them throughout the period we generally refer to as Christendom, where kingdoms and empires were ruled, ostensibly, by Christian principles with favor and reward shown to Christian institutions. This marriage, however, of Church and State was not an equal one, nor healthy. As Lord Acton famously put it, "Power tends to corrupt, absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely." The power of the State allowed Christians to persecute dissenters, (some heretics, some earnest reformers, many innocent) but in doing so, the purity of the Gospel was corrupted, the appeal of God's Love replaced (or at least obscured) by Law and Justice. The Church's response to heretics is excommunication, the State offered a tempting alternative, execution.
Christian Nationalism, has been, and continues to be, a significant danger to the Church. That nationalism fueled the dueling claims of God's blessing as Europeans slaughtered each other during WWI, and it was co-opted to horrific effect by the Third Reich, leading to the flight of Bonhoeffer, Barth, and others to the Confessing Church, and the eventual martyrdom of Bonhoeffer. The Nazis replaced the head of the German Lutheran Church with a Nazi party functionary, and sent the Gestapo to listen to ministers preach so that they could arrest any who spoke against the government, all while millions of 'good German Christians' cheered at Nazi parades. To invoke the Nazis is no small rhetorical device, and I do so NOT to call Mike Pence a fascist, but simply to illustrate the fallibility of the Church, of how far the Church can fall from its original intent and purpose. This is also the logical end of Nationalism, the merging of Church INTO State, and the bending of the Church to the will of the State. This is the dark side of Christendom. The Church may think that it has the tiger by the tail, but it will always learn that it can't let go. When being a good Christian is defined by what the government demands of its citizens, it is only a matter of time until those demands run contrary to the Word of God. Perhaps the Christian Nationalism that is ascendant in American Evangelicalism today will remain moored to Bible principles, but if it does it will be the first such example {Calvin's Geneva, for example, couldn't maintain the union either, as the city burned a Christian heretic at the stake}, and there is every indication that devotion to God has already been compromised by the needs of power, wealth, and politics. The Word of God says one thing, but the need to win the next election says something else.
A secondary fault of Mike Pence's position is its use of Replacement Theology. To make a long story short, this view sees America (and the British Empire before it, where the view was similarly popular) as the New Israel, the heir to the Abrahamic Covenant's promises, unique and special in the eyes of God. This common error is both an insult to the physical descendants of Abraham (a subtle form of Antisemitism), those to whom the promises were actually given; it also erroneously elevates America to a 'no-fault' position that obscures the real problems we face as a nation (like racism) behind veils like Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism. If America is God's chosen nation, our faults must be minor. This is, at the least, bad theology. Bad theology is not idolatry, but it contributes here to the worldview that gives birth to it.
In the closing allusion, to 2 Corinthians 3:17, the Apostle Paul is speaking of our freedom from Law that we have because of the Grace of God that is in Christ Jesus. Mike Pence swaps that out for American civic freedoms, a pale imitation of the true freedom that we enjoy because Christ has set us free. The accomplishments of America in the realm of political freedom, and they certainly are historic and considerable, are nothing in comparison to the spiritual freedom from sin and death accomplished by Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection. IF we turn from the greater freedom, in an effort to embrace the lesser, we will be great fools. The Church's offers to the world freedom from sin, for all peoples regardless of nationality, the Bill of Rights cannot compete. The last line, "That means freedom always wins." is certainly not what Paul was trying to say, not even remotely. Political freedom won't always win, human oppression will continue to ebb and flow until the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His kingdom. The only kind of freedom that "always wins" is the freedom purchased by the Blood of the Lamb.
In the "fog of these challenging times" Old Glory is not our guiding light, nor is it our anchor. That may work for an appeal to American citizens, but coming from a professed Christian, using Scripture as a framework, it is heresy, a form of idolatry. Our guide is the Bible, the author and perfecter of our faith is Jesus, ONLY Jesus, the witnesses which inspire us to live righteously are the heroes of the faith from Hebrews chapter 11 and the rest of Church History, whether or not they are American heroes. The freedom that we cling to, that we have placed all of our hope and faith upon, is given to us by Jesus Christ, alone.
My message is not for Mike Pence, he's not an ordained minister, nor has he been chosen by the Church to a position of leadership. My cry is to those in leadership within the Church of Jesus Christ. Christ is our head, Christ is our hope, Christ is above all. This Word of hope has been placed in our care, if we do not make this clear, if we do not reject the siren's call of Nationalism, the blurring together of Christian moral with American civic duty, and the foolishness of replacing the Covenant of Abraham with American Exceptionalism, who will?
Love America for its blessings, appreciate the flag and honor our country's heroes, but don't for a moment place country before God.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.
